Page 89 of Nightbane
That got a reaction from him. His jaw tensed. “You tricked me. Had I known who you were, I never would have touched you.” The disgust in his tone was clear.
Isla scoffed. “HadIknown what was about to occur, I never would have joined that line.”
“Why were you there, then?” he snapped.
She recoiled, taken aback by his sudden rush of anger. “I accidentally portaled there with the starstick. It wouldn’t work, and I was chased by your idiotic group of guards. The head woman grabbed me, and the next thing I knew I was in that line.”
Grim crossed his arms. “I should take that thing away from you. All it’s bringing you is closer to death.”
“You could try,” she said, her voice as threatening as she could make it.
Grim looked at her and said nothing.
“So. You have a harem?” she asked. Since that night, she had wondered who those women were. Their function was clear.
“No.”
Isla laughed, disbelieving. “So, women just line up to sleep with you? They volunteer for the honor?”
Grim glared at her.
He had the reputation of an accomplished killer. There was no way the women didn’t know about it. “Who would want to sleep with you?”
Grim stood from the chair, until he was right in front of her. He towered over her, his shadow even bigger behind him, filling her wall. “I don’t know, Hearteater,” he said. “You seemed pretty willing.”
Isla swallowed. He was so close. She was breathing too quickly, and it only made her wound more painful. “No. I was disgusted.”
Grim grinned. “Is that so?”
She nodded, even as he placed his hands on either side of her on the bed and leaned down so his face was right in front of hers.
“I can feel flashes of emotions,” he said.He could?Now that she thought about it, it was a rumored Nightshade ability, one only the most powerful possessed. The blood drained from her face. “And yours were very,veryclear—”
She wasn’t breathing.
“—just as they are now.”
Her heart was beating wildly. She told herself it was because she could feel the power rolling from him in waves. She told herself she was afraid. “Your powers are wrong.”
He tilted his head at her. She watched his eyes move from her collarbones to her neck to her lips. “No. I don’t think so.”
Then he went back to his chair. “Go to sleep,” he said.
She crawled back to her place and covered herself in bedding so he wouldn’t see the heat of her face.
LINE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
Isla blinked. She had just had a memory. It didn’t seem as though any time had passed, however.
Was it because her Nightshade abilities were getting stronger? Had it always been this way?
The Vinderland warrior was frozen in front of her. She had just demolished his weapon with a single touch. “What are you?” he asked. “You’re ... Wildling.”
“I’m more than that,” she said, stepping forward. Suddenly, she had Enya’s confidence. She had seen her own death too.
She would not die today.
“You are going to join us in battle, or we are going to all perish,” she said, her voice taking on an edge. “It’s as simple as that.”
